I’m Living and Learning Again!

A man’s love of a sport evolves over his lifetime. For example, as a child we played baseball for fun with a stick and a ball. Then we may have played in Little League and become the fan of a professional baseball team. We loved to watch games of TV and attending a real live game was the ultimate treat. As we got older we began to play Fantasy Baseball where we picked our own team of professionals to complete statistically with other old jocks. Fantasy sports are immensely popular today.

Well I have just learned about a new fantasy sport that has grown into an $800 million industry with more than 30 million players in the US and Canada that I have never heard of – fantasy fishing Yes Virginia, there is such a thing as fantasy fishing. And you can win a million dollars. And you don't have to pay an entry fee.

Before each of the six regular-season tournaments on the largest pro bass-fishing circuit in the U.S., you pick 10 anglers at fantasyfishing.com. The better your picks do, the more points you rack up. The winner of each tournament gets $100,000. Whoever piles up the most points over all six tournaments wins the million. That's quite a nice catch. The first tournament each year is held in February on Lake Guntersville in Huntsville, Ala.

Fantasy fishing provides more prize money to people who “play the game” than any other fantasy sport! I find this absolutely mind-boggling. And I have missed out on playing it because I just heard about it. You don’t need to even know anything about the “professional fishermen” because for $10 you can buy the “stats guide” for all the participants, just like buying the program at the racetrack.

I am just going to have to become more vigilant. Opportunities like this might exist in other areas such as fantasy hog calling, fantasy moonshine making or fantasy horseshoes. I think a field trip to the Ozarks might be necessary to do a little advance scouting.

It continues to blow my mind when I think of all the things that I still have to learn! I don’t even know what I don’t even know anymore! Fantasy fishing?